Teen finds live WWII bomb on beach

KAPA‘A — A team of explosive experts destroyed an ordnance on Sunday in a remote area of Kapa‘a after a teenager found the device on an Eastside beach.

Kaua‘i police were called Saturday morning to a home on Iwaena Loop in Kapa‘a when the parents of a 15-year-old living there discovered the cylindrical object on their front porch, a county press release states.

The teen had found the unexploded ordnance on the beach near mile marker 9 off of Kuhio Highway at about 10:30 p.m. on Friday and brought it to his Hundley Heights home.

Following the report, officers closed portions of Iwaena Loop and evacuated the home and adjacent houses until the ordnance could be removed.

Police contacted the U.S. Army’s 706th explosive ordnance disposal team from Schofield Barracks in Honolulu and an explosive specialist from the Transportation Security Administration at Lihu‘e Airport. Upon inspection, the TSA employee confirmed the device was an unexploded ordnance and could be dangerous, the release states.

 Two members of the disposal team arrived on island at around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and removed the ordnance to a remote location in Kapa‘a. Attempts to disable the device that night were unsuccessful.

On Sunday morning, additional equipment was flown to Kaua‘i and the team destroyed the explosive device just before 11 a.m.

The ordnance, which was about 2 1/2 feet long and 6 inches in diameter, was identified by the Army personnel as a World War II era, French-made marine sea marker containing minor explosives, the release states.

KPD Capt. Michael Contrades advises anyone who finds such an object to not disturb it and alert police as soon as possible. 

“Safety is our main concern,” Contrades said in the release. “These objects can be dangerous and should be handled only by experts with knowledge of how to dispose of them.”